Slow Cooker Beef Stew

My husband doesn’t like soup. Or stew. Or any kind of meal that isn’t meat, potatoes, and maaaaaaybe a veggie but only if I insist. 😉

Onions are the devil, in his opinion, and we all know that a good soup has onions. So. He’s obviously the worst. Except that he’s also adorable and I like him, so I keep him around.

Anyway, he works out of state right now, which means that most weeknights the kids and I are on our own for dinner. Ah-ha! That explains it, doesn’t it? All the soups I’ve been sharing lately! Cheeseburger soup, Cajun bean soup, chicken corn chowder, allllll the soup!

Yes, we’ve been enjoying the heck out of soup season without the husband around.

So, when I teamed up with PRE® Brands to create a recipe for you guys using their 100% grass fed beef, I did not jump straight for the filet mignon. I went for the stew meat.

Luckily for my husband, PRE was kind enough to send me a box full of every product they offer (steak to ground beef to stew meat to chuck roast!) – including his favorite filet mignon. We feasted on steak that weekend and it was divine. I really love the way PRE includes cooking times on the package of meats. Because grass fed beef is a bit leaner than you might be used to, the meat cooks a little quicker, so they’ve included guidelines to follow and they worked great.

We’ve gone through every cut of meat they offer at this point and have been so impressed with them. Bonus points: they’re always sold fresh, never frozen, and they’re available at my local Wal Mart. Check their store locator and see where you can pick some up! You can also get their cuts of beef through AmazonFresh in select cities.

Anyway, yes, the steak was great. But then my husband left and I made the kids and I this super hearty, super filling, super amazing slow cooker beef stew. We all loved it! It was quick to toss together in the morning and then it had the house smelling amazing while I was home working. None of us could wait for dinner time.

I loaded this stew up with chunks of tender beef, bites of potatoes, plenty of sweet carrots, and yes – onions. I keep the onions in big chunks for my little one who likes to pick them out. She takes after her daddy.

I think your family will love it just as much as mine did!

And be sure to read about PRE Brands Obsessive Pick Process. It’s really interesting to hear about their guidelines for bringing you the absolute best quality beef they can.

Yeah seriously, WHAT is wrong with these men!? Mine doesn’t appreciate a good ol’ onion in anything and soup is like “eh” to him. I’m sorry, soup is the best invention ever. PERIOD. Especially when there’s beef and a crock pot involved.

It really does! Remember, it’s seasoning a whole pound of meat, along with a bunch of potatoes and carrots. All that seasoning on the meat melds with the rest of the ingredients while it slow cooks. You can reduce it if you like, but I didn’t find the finished product too salty at all. 🙂

We love beef stew. My hubby will eat just about anything I prepare. Love using the crockpot. Put every thing together and can go off for the day and have dinner waiting when I return home. Fix salad or coleslaw and it’s dinner. Maybe some rolls. Trying to stay away from breads. Will certainly give this recipe a try.

We all love beef stew. My hubby is not hard to suit. He will eat anything I put on the table. Love using the crock pot as you fix it in the morning or the night before and go about your business the next day and come home to a wonderful aroma in the house. Add a salad and some rolls and it’s dinner

My husband will eat onions or soup… but soup is NOT dinner, so don’t get that confused! As long as I don’t try too often I can get away with soup as long as I make him a grilled ham and cheese to go along with it. It must be something in that missing half a chromosome. Maybe we can get a study funded?

Mmmmm mine used to be that way about many things, and he was in the military (I thought they would eat anything if it didn’t moo when you poked it with a fork..) and refused to eat several things that just happened to be on the very short list of the things of my cooking skills. So he had a choice, he could eat, not eat, eat on the ship, or cook… 3 things didn’t appeal to him at all… he learned to like what I cooked or maybe he doesn’t say anything any more. But he now eats things he never thought he’d ever eat..